Some Sarko Gossip FWIW from Time:

It was just two months ago that the French media shrugged off their curiosity about President Nicolas Sarkozy’s divorce from his wife Cécilia, and said they would not pry into the private life of their first-ever single President, nor care which women he chose to date.

Yeah, right. That cool vanished on Monday, with the unveiling of Sarkozy’s new love interest — the singer and former supermodel Carla Bruni, whose previous companions include Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton. The conservative daily newspaper Le Figaro — which strongly supports Sarkozy — on Monday splashed a quarter-page photo of Bruni on its front page, which is typically reserved for dry political news, under the headline: “The president’s girlfriend.” Bruni’s photo appeared next to an article predicting a tough week ahead for Sarkozy’s reform program, over which trade unions are planning mass strikes. The President’s happier news lay tucked inside the “France Politique” section, where one half-page showed three more images of Bruni, 39, including one of her without trousers, her flawless bare legs crossed on a couch next to her acoustic guitar. Although the Elysée Palace has refused to comment on the reports, three national magazine covers will feature the new couple this week, according to the newspaper.

News of Sarkozy’s new relationship first broke on the website of the newsweekly L’Express. The magazine’s editor Christophe Barbier told a French television talk show on the weekend that Bruni, a friend of his, had told him that she was involved with Sarkozy. That confirmed mounting rumors that Sarkozy was not alone in his palace bedroom.

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